Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Apple co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs died today, Apple said. He was 56.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives," Apple said in a statement. "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Jobs had been suffering from various health issues following the seven-year anniversary of his surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer in August 2004. Apple announced in January that he would be taking an indeterminate medical leave of absence, with Jobs then stepping down from his role as CEO in late August.

Jobs had undergone a liver transplant in April 2009 during an earlier planned six-month leave of absence. He returned to work for a year and a half before his health forced him to take more time off. He told his employees in August, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

One of the most legendary businessmen in American history, Jobs turned three separate industries on their head in the 35 years he was involved in the technology industry.

Personal computing was invented with the launch of the Apple II in 1977. Legal digital music recordings were brought into the mainstream with the iPod and iTunes in the early 2000s, and mobile phones were never the same after the 2007 debut of the iPhone. Jobs played an instrumental role in the development of all three, and managed to find time to transform the art of computer-generated movie-making on the side.

Saturday, 1 October 2011

This morning I went out to run some errands in Taipan Subang Jaya. As usual, the area there was packed with cars filled with families going there for a weekend meal. I was at a junction where I saw a female driver who looks like a foreigner, blocking the road (between the HSBC building and Maybank)I need to turn into Initially I wanted to honk a bit to let her know that she is blocking the road, but before I hit the center of my steering wheel, I saw that she was stucked because of the driver in front. The chinese female driver was reversing her car out of the parking spot and was blocking the foreign driver's way.

After a few minutes maneuvering the car, the chinese female driver managed to create some space for the foreign driver to proceed her journey. But this time she came blocking the road leading the small road (in fact her car was blocking people from both directions). The queue started building up behind me and the drivers behind me were starting to get irritated. Everyone started honking (same goes for me) as she was taking way too long . Because my car was the first in the line, she gave me a nasty look (a big "BITCH" can be seen written on her face) and started cursing at me in the car. The staring and cursing wasted another few seconds which to Malaysian drivers, is a heck of a long time. This time, she tried to reverse further to get into the small road where she could instead, proceed in front and make a turning there which would instantly release the deadlock and return the traffic back to normal.

In case you can't visualise the bi*ch expression at that time

As she was taking her own sweet time reversing her vechicle, (wonder how she managed to get her driving licence, she can't even do a proper and simple reverse), I gave her another honk, asking her to speed up a bit. She gave me another nasty look, the same as the first one. I actually thought of honking her continously so that she will keep on giving me the nasty looks since she is so responsive to my honks. But I care for other road users (golden halo on my head) and decided not to do so. After a few more minutes, she managed to get her car into the small road and traffic resumed as normal.

If you think this is over, then you are completely wrong as she caused another deadlock at another junction in front .

Later in the evening, I went out to collect my car from the service center. On the way back, I did a very idiotic thing when trying to adjust my car seat. I actually pulled the trigger that opens my car boot. I can't do anything at that time as I was in the middle of the road and the traffic light was sturing green soon. From my back mirror, I could see a Malay driver and his famiy in the car behind me was looking at my car boot with their eyes wide open. They started chatting to each other while pointing at my car boot.

"Laugh all you want...I don't care. I am a stupid driver." I said to myself, trying to find some comfort. When I looked into the mirror for a second time, I saw the driver swayed away and stopped beside me. The Malay family looked at me and started pointing and gesturing that my car boot was opened. It was quite funny looking at them as they seemed to be more frantic than I. I replied back to them that I knew and thanked them for that.

It was really heart warming to see the real 1 Malaysia spirit in action (different races caring for one another) , rather than the souless, unappealing and sickening 1 Malaysia advertisements that appear in almost everywhere.